Cracker Barrel fans heartbroken as chain scraps signature old-timey decor

Devoted Cracker Barrel customers are “heartbroken” over the Southern chain ditching its country charm for a more sterile modern makeover in its bid to remain relevant.The Tennessee-based company, known as much for its tchochkes as its Southern fixins’ like chicken fried steak and grits, has tossed the kitsch that drew generations of diners in favor of booths and crisp white walls.“It has always felt like being in someone’s home,” said longtime diner Sharon Triana, who grew up visiting Cracker Barrel Old Country Store with her parents and now dines there twice a month with her partner and 10-year-old twins.“But opening the walls, lighter colors and atmosphere, it feels like something colder,” Triana told the Wall Street Journal.Cracker Barrel – which faced blowback in the past when it swapped out some wooden rocking chairs with rainbow ones to celebrate Pride – announced plans to remodel restaurants last summer after CEO Julie Felss Masino admitted the chain is “just not as relevant” as it used to be.About 40 of the chain’s roughly 660 locations have completed some kind of remodeling as of early May, according to the Journal.Cracker Barrel did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.Rachel Love, who shared her grief over the changes in a series of TikTok videos that went viral, tried to convince herself that her nearest Cracker Barrel was receiving just a light spruce up when she noticed white paint covering the exterior. “I thought, well maybe it’s primer,” Love told the Journal.But when she visited the restaurant on Easter Sunday, she realized the white paint was permanent, and saw fewer antiques hanging on the walls and new Adirondacks replacing rocking chairs that had long sat on the porch. “It was just heartbreak,” Love said.“My 14-year-old son was devastated.” Felss Masino, who took over the chain in July 2023, argued that the negative reactions are examples of the nostalgia diners have for Cracker...